Plants and animals are awakening to the waning Winter and the approaching Spring. Spring Equinox is March 20, 2:01 a.m.; daylight savings starts March 9. The days are getting longer and, recently, warmer. On an afternoon walk recently, a new level of bird song filled the air: the birds feel the changing season. Robins, finches, goldfinches, thrashers, towhees, sparrows, blackbirds and juncos were simultaneously raucously singing, each song distinct, each clearly audible from anywhere on the farm.

The dominant song, the loudest and most enthralling, is the flock of 50 or so California bicolored blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus californicus). This flock hunts in hopping flanks across the fields, scaring up food, or lights into a tree from which it hemi-melodiously erupts into cacophonous orchestration. During this group song, individual birds will take to the sky above the flock, display and glide-flit back down into the tree with a pattern much like falling leaves. Sometimes several birds will do this at once, sometimes only one. It is like a dance floor in 3D. I highly recommend spending time observing this species’ behavior – it is fascinating to watch and mesmerizing to hear.

Greening

Meanwhile, down on the ground plants are starting to get taller. Grass is one foot tall, poppies 6 inches, bee plant two feet with its vigorous stalks and huge dark green toothed leaves. Soon, all that herbaceous stuff will be knee high and difficult to negotiate on foot: this is our last chance to readily romp through lush fields and meadows.

The winner of the green growth height race is, and always was and will be, wild cucumber aka womanroot, so named because the starchy root is the size of a woman, albeit a smaller one. That starch allows the plant to hurdle forward with long reaching vines and twining tendrils, simultaneously flowering and more slowly forming leaves. On a warm, still day, you might catch the cucumber scent of the flowers. Don’t stand still too long or one might grab you!

Flowers

Our Earlitreat peach trees are in bloom. They have to be early to set fruit for harvest by Mid May (!), so sweet and tasty. The large pink flowers are pure eye candy, and the bees are loving them. We are happy for the hot dry spell right now to help the leaves not get too much peach leaf curl, which is problematic with this early variety.

In the uncultivated areas, California poppy flowers are opening. As always each spring, the first flowers are the size of tulip flowers and show more the inland poppy traits: pure orange petals. These were planted from seed brought in and have naturalized. The local poppy blossoms later and so the two races keep separate niches and maintain their flower color and different leaf morphologies right alongside one another.

Frogs and Bats!

Our concrete pond filled early and has stayed full for the winter, attracting chorus frogs. This is the first year in more than a decade that chorus frogs are hopping through the fields, along the trails, and under the orchard trees. They go to the pond at night to sing and play but then out into the fields they go to feed on bugs for full tummies to get them through the night of frenzied singing socializing. The pond is rife with frog egg masses but last I checked no tadpoles. One newt floated around and will be feasting on eggs and, soon, tadpoles, too.

Another thing a pond does is attract bats. All at once, a gaggle of small bats poured out of the ‘horse barn’ roof edge last Saturday at dusk. This evening just after sunset, a larger singular bat was energetically gliding and flapping around the farm. All this bat action but no real evident evening time bugs…but, who am I to say…they are much better at assessing that situation.

Citrus Harvest

Have you been to the Food Bin where Molino Creek Farm limes have been on sale? Everyone says that these are the tastiest limes, thin skinned and juicy. We’re getting ready to harvest another large batch- they ripen gradually and in pulses with the warm spells. Our Community Orchardists went on a citrus harvesting stroll last Saturday after our work party, loading up on limes (Bearrs and Key), mandarins (mostly Honey), Meyer lemons (no one took many), Seville oranges (for marmalade), and navel oranges (mostly Robertson but some Lane’s Late…Cara Cara and Washington a bit slower). Some enterprising souls also are experimenting with the first possibly ripe Pinkerton avocados…we hope for reports back! More different mandarins are ripening…soon!  Another couple of years and we may have too many mandarins and be able to send some to market or to charity or somewhere, we’ll see. But first, how will we do this year with making use of the many pounds of navel oranges on the trees – everyone is reporting large orange harvests this year!

Hoping you have a great week and enjoy some seasonal, local citrus to spice up your life and give you the Vitamin C you crave.

-this post co-published at the other site I maintain for Molino Creek Farm